monochron fails LED + switch test

[madducks]

Hello,

I am very very new to soldering and kit building, before tackling the monochron I have only built the TV-B-Gone. I have been following the monochron instructions and everything has gone fine up until soldering the switch and LED. At that point when I plug it in I hear the beeps, but the LED will not turn on no matter what position the switch is in. I have posted pictures of my work so far, any help would be greatly appreciated.




Thank you,
Aric

[adafruit_support_rick]

Difficult to see the solders on the IC socket because of the flash, but quite a few of the pins look solder-starved. Solders should look like this:

Solder%20Joint.gif (7.78 KiB) Viewed 646 times

. Try retouching any pins that look a little light. You might also review our Guide To Excellent Soldering

[madducks]

Hello, and thank you for help! It was a while before I had time to work on this again, thus the slow reply. I have reviewed that soldering tutorial and have resoldered not just the socket, but also the other components and my problem continues. I have triple/quadruple checked that the placement of the soldered components but the problem persists. I have also replaced the LED. Is there some way I might narrow down my problem?

Thank you again for your help.

-Aric

[adafruit_support_rick]

Could be a bad switch. Do you have a voltmeter/multimeter? Referring to the picture below:

- you should always see 5V between the pads labeled "+5V" and "GND".

- with the switch in the position shown:
- you should have continuity between "GND" and "switched GND/NC"
- you should see 5V between "+5V" and "switched GND/NC"

- with the switch in the opposite position:
- you should have continuity between "NC" and "switched GND/NC"
- you should see 0V between "+5V" and "switched GND/NC"

test points

monochron_test_pts.png (322.81 KiB) Viewed 358 times

[madducks]

Hello,

Thank you so much for your help, and thank you for keeping the kids gloves on!

I'm not sure what to make of this but here is what I observed:

I only ever saw 0 volts between +5V and GND, no matter the position of the switch. I touched up the solder a bit, but still never saw anything between them.

Switch in position shown:
-0 between GND and switched GND/NC
5.08V between +5V and switched GND/NC

Opposite position:
-0 between NC and switched GND/NC
0.4 (fluctuated) between +5V and switched GND/NC

Thank you again for your help.

[adafruit_support_bill]

That would seem to indicate that you have a bad switch there. Contact support@adafruit.com with a link to this thread and ask for a replacement switch for your Monochron.

[madducks]

Thank you for your help!

[madducks]

You guys are awesome. Thanks to your help I now I have a fully functional monochron.




Thank you!

[madducks]

Not looking especially competent lately Try this link since the image wouldn't imbed:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gmtbnsf82nb1kxd/2013-02-15%2017.57.21.jpg

[adafruit_support_rick]

Hmmm ... I think you need to take some of those Legos and build a Monochron enclosure...